White Sox Pursuing Jason Schmidt?

Of couple of ESPN columnists seem to have independently arrived at the same trade rumor in their blogs in recent days.  Buster Olney's source is a "talent evaluator" while Jayson Stark got word from "an executive who has heard this talk." 

According to Olney and Stark, the White Sox would trade Brandon McCarthy and Brian Anderson to the Giants for Jason Schmidt.  The Sox would then acquire a center fielder in a separate trade.

Schmidt, 33, has been the NL's second best pitcher this year behind Brandon Webb. This is his contract year and he's making $10.5 million.  Anderson and McCarthy were ranked #1 and #3 among White Sox prospects entering the 2005 season.  McCarthy has had superb control at the big league level, with his one flaw being too many home runs allowed.  U.S. Cellular inflates home runs by about 35%, while AT&T Park deflates them by around 10%.  It's been a rough 81 games for Anderson with the Sox, but the 24 year-old remains in high regard.

Freddy Garcia, Javier Vazquez, and Jon Garland haven't performed as well as the Sox would've liked; all three own ERAs near 5 entering the All-Star break.  Chicago would stand to gain an estimated three wins by replacing one of them with Schmidt.  Olney speculated that Kenny Williams could consider using one of his surplus starters to acquire a center fielder.

Names that have come up in center include Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, or Aaron Rowand.  None of the three seem feasible for various reasons.  The Sox could also consider players like Luis Matos, Willy Taveras, Brady Clark, Juan Pierre, and Ken Griffey Jr.  Clark would be a good fit if Doug Melvin makes him available.  It certainly wouldn't hurt to add Clark's .380 OBP to the top of the lineup, and he plays capable defense.  He's signed through 2007.    

Comments

[Darin]

The Astros should give Tavaras, Lane, Ensberg and Lidge to the White Sox for 2 peanut vendors and a cotton candy machine.

[Blue]

I doubt the Giants realize they should be looking to do a deal like that.

Darin, I'm a Reds fan. Isn't this division terrible? No one deserves to win! I couldn't believe the defensive miscues in right field during extra innings, the loads of baserunners given up by the relievers, and the inability of the hitters to take advantage for 3 innings.

[Darin]

Well as a Stros fan, all I have to hold onto is the hope that they defy odds for a 3rd season in a row. I don't see it happening because there are too many holes, and not enough minor league talent to spare or money to give.

At least the Reds are over achieving for the most part. I guess I should have seen this coming, but in all actuallity this is the same World Series team from last year. I would hope that they could have least taken a home series against the Royals a month ago, but nope, they lost 2 out of the 3 to probably one of the worst baseball teams in the past 10 years.

[astrosfan]

That's giving up way too much for Schmidt. Maybe a couple of minor league pitching prospects and Andersion (who's hitting .350 the last 2 weeks) for him.

The Astros really need to do something. They looked absolutely horrible this weekend against St. Louis.

[TheRealErik]

Brandon McCarthy, IMO, is very overrated. His HR rate is atrocious this year. It was bad in the minors. He's a future back-end starter at best. If i'm Sabean, I run away screaming if Williams proposed such a deal, especially since my team is still in the race for the NL West.

[bdid]

Hey Monger... A real interesting one over at Gotham...

In his forums section Heals says Mets/Nats may be discussing a Livan/Sori for Hman/Milledge/Royce Ring deal.

It's under the forum topid of "Baiting the Big Apple (something like that)" Check it out!

[bdid]

Hey Monger... A real interesting one over at Gotham...

In his forums section Heals says Mets/Nats may be discussing a Livan/Sori for Hman/Milledge/Royce Ring deal.

It's under the forum topid of "Baiting the Big Apple (something like that)" Check it out!

[RotoAuthority]

Got a link? I didn't know the site was still active.

[TheRealErik]

If such a trade were to happen, us Met fans would need a self-immolation thread. I am a rational Met fan and even I would consider castrating Minaya if said deal took place.

[TheRealErik]

http://www.gothambaseball.com/news/1152228885.php

There yah go, Roto.

[bdid]

Thanks Erik

[bdid]

Actually this is the link to that rumor...

http://gothambaseball.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=100

[decolores9628]

im a huge sox fan, and i dont want to see that happen, the only reason why McCarthy had a bad HR rate in the minors is beacause Charlotte's stadium is sooo small. Did you miss his starts in 05? pretty great. This year hes just getting adjusted to a relievers role. He pitched well against a good Boston lineup yesterday. 4 1/3 innings of scoreless ball.

[decolores9628]

i really love anderson too. hes amazing defensively, and he is hitting the ball so hard lately, hes only 23 and mccarthy is only 22, id rather have both of them than schmidt

[TheRealErik]

"Did you miss his starts in 05? pretty great."

Look, Brandon's a nice prospect, but I don't see him as the future horse of a staff. Much like Cole Hamels, his future is limited due to a mediocre fastball. You can develop secondary stuff, but you can't develop 97 with nasty sink.

Looking at elite young pitchers throughout history, most show very good HR/9 rates in the minors (less than 0.5). It seems to be a great predictor of hittability at the ML level.

[risingsunofnihon]

I agree with the other commenters who have said this trade seems like a bad deal. Anderson and McCarthy are young prospects who are still developing, and both have lots of potential. Gaining "three wins" with Schmidt just isn't worth giving up the players they're talking about.

[TheRealErik]

Yeah. I don't like this trade for either team. Schmidt is only a rental and i'm not a big fan of the two Sox prospects.

[ozziethesaint]

My 2 cents on both of these rumors

Whitesox - Giants
Horrible horrible deal for the Sox. Giving up 2 good prospects for Schmidt in his walk Yr. No thanks. Kenny should only consider this if Schmidt would agree to an extension before finishing the deal.

Mets - Nats.
This seems like a very questionable deal. I would say I probably don't think it would be all that good for the Mets. Livan is in no way an upgrade for the Mets. they might as well leave Pelfrey in the bigs. and as far as Sori? Well sure he's easily the best player involved in the trade. but again in his walk Yr. so that negates alot of his value in my book. If I was the mets, I'd try and get the 72 hr window to work a deal with Sori and then offer Milledge and a pitcher, maybe not Heilman though.

[P.E.Overbrook]

This would be the steal of the century for the Giants and a travesty for the Sox. Maybe it's because of Williams' old history of overpaying, I don't know, that abusrdly one-sided deal rumors like this come up. We saw it last year with the silly Crede and McCarthy and Contreras for the overrated Burnett rumors.
No team in baseball would even consider trading two young players like McCarthy and Anderson to rent Jason Schmidt; no team would do the deal if it wasn't a trade and Schmidt was under contract for a few more years. Arizona didn't get nearly this sort of booty for Johnson or Schilling, and Schmidt isn't close to their league.
Ridiculous.

[P.E.Overbrook]

As for dealing a "surplus starter" and Schmidt's alleged "3 extra wins" a)how much do you discount a NL pitcher's stats for facing weaker competition and a pitcher every 9 turns instead of a DH; and b)Not one of the mediocrities like Luis Matos, Willy Taveras, Brady Clark, Juan Pierre (Pierre is laughably bad in the outfield) is worth anywhere close to a "surplus starter" from the Sox.

[Yu Hsing Chen]

Schmidt would be about as good as Vasquez or Garcia at best.... he's not only in the NL... but the weakest hitting divison of it (yes i know their records are better overall than the central but just look at the HR totals and the hitters... they have what? one real star hitter in the whole divison? Matt Holliday...and maybe Nomar too. that's just junk. I'd take any pitcher stats from that division with a serious grain of salt... Brandon Webb got destroyed when he faced the AL... and he is better than Schimdt by far)

it makes no sense to trade away two ready and developing young players for half a year of rental when u lead the wild card by 7 freaken game.

Also, none of the seller's that might trade a CF would really want Garcia / Vasquez / Garland anyway... except maybe the Cubs... because their "center fielder" is a piece of overrated garbage and their FO is retarded.

And like others said, the Giants are still in the race anyway, of course they might be smart enough to forget about this year and start rebuilding, but if they were so smart, how you'd think they end up with such a old outfield in the first place?

The Nat's deal is even more of a highway roberry, though hey... they traded Kazmir for Victor Zambrano didn't they?

[Jutter]

Regarding the Mets/Nats rumor: If I'm Minaya, I wouldn't be opposed to trading Milledge because the Mets have unlimited funds. They can buy Soriano in the offseason. I wouldn't necessarily do the mentioned deal, but if they're able to acquire a another decent starter... then trade Milledge. I'm not a Mets fan, but they're a really good team with some holes. Adding Soriano is unnecessary. A team that keeps using Lima-time needs to address the starting rotation. Plus, a little bullpen help wouldn't hurt either. As a Cubs fan, a fantasy trade with the Mets would include Maddux/Eyre/Howry going to the Mets in exchange for Milledge and Vic Diaz and/or Royce Ring.
I think reuniting Maddux and Glavine would be a good thing for the Mets, but that's just my opinion.

[Darin]

"The Nat's deal is even more of a highway roberry, though hey... they traded Kazmir for Victor Zambrano didn't they?"

I think one of the Duquette's responsible for that lapse. Jim maybe, it's whichever one's working to insure that the Orioles never get back on track.

[xxxJamesxxx]

>>

Huh? Hamels is LH, and can throw 95 mph, sitting in the 91-93 range. He gave up a total of TWO home runs in the minors in almost 200 innings pitched.

[Blue]

RotoAuthority:

I've been reading crazy stuff all day about the Reds getting ready to make a blockbuster trade. In an effort to not embarrass myself, I won't mention the names of the principle players in the supposed deal. However, I will say that people are saying that Buster Olney said on ESPN 1000 that the deal would be bigger than the deal that sent A-Rod to the Yankees.

You're a Chicago guy, is there anything to this?

[the man]

Did Yu Hsing Chen just say that there were no sellers that would want Garcia/ Vasquez / Garland?

The Brewers are in the PERFECT situation for that deal - they need arms because of injuries, and Brady Clark is expendable (with capable Corey Hart and Nelson Cruz). The Brewers have also taken on many reclaimation or fallen star pitchers in recent years so that Mike Maddux can work his magic (he's one of the most underrated pitching coaches in the game, IMO)

[A2000]

Brady Clark would make a nice addition to the White Sox roster.

[RotoAuthority]

Agreed.